--- title: "Experts at Hand: Occupational Therapy Inclusion & Participation Service" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06e264" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06e264" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e264.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e264.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "Norfolk County Council" published: "2026-08-12" --- # Experts at Hand: Occupational Therapy Inclusion & Participation Service Buyer: Norfolk County Council Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06e264 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06e264) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e264.json) ## Summary Norfolk County Council is planning an Occupational Therapy, Inclusion and Participation Service as part of its zone-based, multidisciplinary Experts at Hand model. The service will support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities across mainstream early years, primary, secondary and post-16 settings in Norfolk. It will bring specialist expertise into everyday learning environments, working alongside setting staff and wider professionals. Activities are expected to include observation, assessment, early identification of need and recommendations for targeted, evidence-based support. The service is intended to improve staff confidence and capability, help settings identify and meet emerging or identified needs, and enable more children and young people to flourish in their educational environments. The procurement is classified as community health services (CPV 85323000) and is a service contract. This procurement is at the planning stage: the Council has announced its intention to procure, but this is not an invitation to tender. The expected approach is an above-threshold open procedure, using the open procedure method, with a framework agreement involved. One planned lot is intended to be suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises and voluntary, community and social enterprises. The anticipated contract period is 4 January 2027 to 31 March 2029. The anticipated value is £3,383,930 excluding VAT, or £4,060,716 including VAT. The Council expects to publish the next notice by 30 September 2026. Market engagement includes an online workshop on 20 August 2026, followed by a questionnaire and draft specification; responses are expected by 12 noon on 31 August 2026. The work is likely to suit occupational therapy providers and multidisciplinary organisations experienced in supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities in mainstream education. Relevant capability includes delivering occupational therapy input across early years, primary, secondary and post-16 settings; carrying out observation and assessment; identifying appropriate targeted support; and embedding practical, evidence-based advice within everyday learning environments. Providers should be prepared to work collaboratively with education staff and wider professionals across zone-based services, while helping build workforce confidence and capability. The Council is using market engagement to understand current capacity, capability and innovation, and is inviting all interested providers to contribute. This is a preparation opportunity rather than a bid opportunity, so interested organisations can use the engagement to assess fit and inform their readiness for the future competition. ## Notice Norfolk County Council (NCC) proposes to procure an Occupational Therapy, Inclusion and Participation Service, which will form part of Norfolk's zone based, multidisciplinary Experts at Hand model. 'Experts at Hand' is designed to transform how support for children and young people with SEND is delivered, by bringing specialist expertise directly into mainstream early years, primary, secondary and post-16 settings. By embedding 'expert roles', such as occupational therapists alongside setting staff, and wider professionals. The offer supports earlier identification of need, strengthens workforce confidence and capability, and provides timely, evidence-based support within everyday learning environments. The Experts at Hand offer will support mainstream settings across early years, primary, secondary and post-16, to better identify and meet the needs of children and young people with emerging or identified SEND needs. It will provide dedicated professional expertise tailored to the needs of individual children and young people, through observation, assessment, and identifying appropriated targeted support to help more children and young people flourish within their settings. The contract is anticipated to start 4th January 2027 up to 31st March 2029 with an anticipated contract value of PS3,383,930 excluding VAT. ### Planning Information Norfolk County Council (NCC) is undertaking market engagement in relation to a proposed Occupational Therapy, Inclusion and Participation Service, which will form part of Norfolk's zone-based, multidisciplinary Experts at Hand model. This engagement is being conducted through a soft market testing exercise designed to gather feedback on the proposed service model and to better understand current market capacity, capability and innovation. The exercise will consist of: 1) An online market engagement workshop to be held via Microsoft Teams on 20 August 2026, from 10:00am to 11:00am. The session will include an overview of the proposed service scope and provide an opportunity for providers to ask questions and engage in discussion. 2) A market engagement questionnaire, which will be published following the workshop alongside a draft service specification on the Council's In-Tend portal. Interested providers are invited to review the draft specification and complete the questionnaire. Completed questionnaires must be returned via In-Tend by 12:00 noon on 31 August 2026. The purpose of this market engagement is to obtain feedback on the proposed service and gather relevant market intelligence that may help inform the final service specification, workforce model, commissioning strategy and procurement approach. This engagement is open to all interested providers. Participation is entirely voluntary and is for information-gathering purposes only. Information provided through this exercise will not form part of, nor influence, the evaluation of any future procurement process. Participation, or non-participation, in this market engagement will not affect a provider's ability to participate in any future procurement opportunity. Equally, information submitted as part of this process will not place any provider at an advantage or disadvantage in any subsequent procurement exercise. Providers participate in this engagement at their own expense. NCC will not reimburse any costs incurred in attending the workshop, reviewing documentation, preparing responses or participating in any aspect of the market engagement process. To ensure consistency and transparency, the Council has established designated points of contact for this exercise. Providers are requested not to contact other Council officers, teams or advisors regarding this engagement. All enquiries and responses must be submitted through the messaging facility within In-Tend. Providers wishing to participate should register on In-Tend at: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc/aspx/Home Registration is free of charge. Once registered, providers can express their interest in the market engagement. Following the market engagement event on 20 August 2026, the questionnaire will be made available for download within the Clarifications section of the In-Tend portal. Completed questionnaires should be returned via the Correspondence section by 12:00 noon on 31 August 2026. Providers interested in attending the online market engagement workshop should register on In-Tend and submit a message including their name and organisation details. The Council will respond with the Microsoft Teams meeting details. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076678-2026 | | Notice type | UK1 - Pipeline Notice | | Procurement type | Framework | | Procurement category | Services | | Procurement method | Open | | Procurement method details | Open procedure | | Tender suitability | SME, VCSE | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 12 Aug 2026 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 30 Sep 2026 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | 4 Jan 2027 - 31 Mar 2029 | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | £3,383,930 | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Planned | | Lots status | Planned | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | Norfolk County Council | | Locality | NORWICH | | Postcode area | Norwich | | Postcode | NR1 2DH | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLH East (England) | | ITL 2 | TLH5 Norfolk | | ITL 3 | TLH51 Norwich and East Norfolk | | Local authority | Norwich | | Electoral ward | Lakenham | | Westminster constituency | Norwich South | | Delivery location | TLH15 Norwich and East Norfolk, TLH16 North and West Norfolk, TLH17 Breckland and South Norfolk | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 85 - Health and social work services ### Codes - 85323000 - Community health services ## Release History - 12 Aug 2026 at 11:56 - Planning - UK1 - Pipeline Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076678-2026 - 12 Aug 2026 at 11:45 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076658-2026 ## Documents - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076678-2026 12th August 2026 - Pipeline notice on Find a Tender - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076658-2026 12th August 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ## Notice URLs - http://www.norfolk.gov.uk - https://in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc/aspx/Home - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents ## Provenance This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06e264. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e264.json.